Caitlin Canty Golden Hour Still Here-- saw you on the train / buttoning your coat / got an open book / edges painted gold / how you pass another page / always on your way / you haven’t changed / I’m still here I seen them all come and go / I’m still here I walked these streets as a young boy / I’m still here I drove these roads with my eyes closed / I’m still here I’ll watch you all come and go / we never lock our doors / never get away / we live a golden hour of a golden age / there are those who go / there are those who stay / you cannot have it both ways / I’m still here I seen them all come and go / I’m still here I walked these streets as a young boy / I’m still here I drove these roads with my eyes closed / I’m still here I’ll watch you all come and go / I’ve forgotten now what I came to talk about / I remember how every memory’s slippery now / stronger than skin and bone / time will distill you down / what are you made of / what are you made of / we will all find out / what you’re made of / what you’re made of / I’m still here I seen them all come and go / I’m still here I walked these streets as a young boy / I’m still here I drove these roads with my eyes closed / I’m still here I’ll watch you all come and go Shoot Trouble-- he brought me to a firing range to stand on the good side of a gun / he knows better than to give me an ultimatum / he shoots trouble before it can run / he brought me to the county fair / held me so tight on that ride / he knows better than to let me out of his sight / he shoots trouble before it can run / run run run / we will say brave words to each other / tempt fate with our plans / play house together / a woman takes this man / when something else caught my eye / he didn’t seem to see / two weeks later over by the white pines / he dropped onto his knee / he shoots trouble / as the sun dissolves to night / my eyes ache at horizons / he tells me of a trip we’ll take / promising i’ll be right beside him / he shoots trouble / we will say brave words to each other / tempt fate with our plans / play house together / a woman takes this man / run run run / he brought me to a firing range to stand on the good side of a gun Southern Man-- southern man in a northern land / you know where to put your hands when we dance / call me darlin / you’re a hard man to understand / southern man / swing me ‘round to an old time band / hold me close with two strong hands / all my plans don’t mean nothing / you’re a hard man to withstand / southern man / working man with calloused hands / gentler than a gentleman / hold me tight / the world is put right / you’re a good man to stand by / man of mine / I can let my hair down / southern man in a northern land / you know where to put your hands when we dance / hold me so tight / you’re a good man to stand by / man of mine Never Again-- whiskey-throated daughter reaching for the water / mouth like a dust bowl eyes full of sharp stones / i’m too young to be this old / where did my time go / your sugar coated words sounded rehearsed / but if I have another one just one poetry will come / I’m too old to be this young / can’t remember all the fun must have had some / I drank more than I meant to / it’s too late for thinking straight / didn’t mean to lead you where I led you / cheap wine underlines every mistake / I’m too old to be this young / I’m too old to be this young / I’m too old to be this young / what the hell have I done / Never again / never again / poor me / pour me another one Thorn-- I like getting lost / I’ll keep wandering off / how I love an open road / gonna get outta dodge / every chance I’ve got / you know how I long to go / you’re the thorn in my traveling bone / you make it so hard to go / I don’t mind kicking back / I’ll throw my feet up and relax / cozy up let time mosey by / but I just can’t unfix my gaze / from that always drifting place / where land touches sky / you’re the stone in this old suitcase / you make me want to stay / when every road starts to look the same / and faces blend with normal names / and all I crave is that one and I could watch the lines grow on his face / you’re the stone in this old suitcase / you make it so hard to go away / you’re the thorn in my traveling bone / there’s nothing quite like coming home Every Day-- every day I wake up and the sun fades your face from my eyes / I try to keep them shut but you still go no matter how tight I keep them closed / you still go / I keep them closed but you still go / every day I wake up with fingernail lines in my palms / I guess that’s where I hold you / tight in my fists all night long / I hold on tight but you’re still gone / hold on tight but you’re still gone / so I’m gonna dream this time away til I see you again / this world’s too heavy for my head to hold all alone / every day I wake up moves me one more day closer to you / the last breath of your face is the first thing I see when I come to / I’ll keep dreaming til I dream you home / I’ll dream you home / I’m gonna dream this time away til I see you again / this world’s too heavy for my head to hold all alone / I’ll keep dreaming til I dream you home / I’ll dream you home / every day I wake up and the sun fades your face from my eyes / I try to keep them shut but you still go no matter how tight I keep them closed / you still go / I keep them closed and you won’t go Do Not Stand At My Grave-- do not stand at my grave and weep / I’m not there / I do not sleep / I’m a thousand winds that blow / I’m the diamond glints on snow / the sunlight on ripened grain / the gentle autumn rain / when you awaken in the morning’s hush / I’m the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight / I’m the soft stars shining at night / do not stand at my grave and cry / I’m not there, I did not die. Vermont-- my lungs are full of diesel fumes / my heart is full of missing you / tried to go to the roof to get closer to the sky / so tired I can’t sleep I’m separating stars from city lights / but my little home is not as high as these other buildings / I heard they’re supposed to scrape the sky but I think they’re missing / I’m missing a place there’s no replacing / where she’s listening to crickets sing / I can only hear this TV humming / it’s dark in VT tonight / too bright in this fake light / gonna drive all night leave the concrete in my dust / gonna cool my feet in mountain streams til I’ve had enough / take a long run sweat the city out of my blood / the water runs its race so fast and hard / just to end up right back where it started / the harder I try to hold / the faster it goes / I’ve been breathing out more than I’ve been breathing in / gonna head straight home til I find myself a second wind / I thought by now I’d have a little more figured out / had a mouthful of wisdom once but someone pulled it out / so I’m going back / hide and seek until I find it / my lungs are full of diesel fumes / my heart is full of missing you Go-- talking with our fingers through glowing screens / how we hide from what we mean / all these timelines on my face / it takes so much it takes / there must have been a mistake / I am not who I meant to be / to dos and sticky notes piled by my car keys / I’ve remembered where to go / forgotten how to know / I see through you / blue wires below pale skin / always connected always plugged in / we spend it all tied to tight deadlines / staring at fake hayfields and electric skies / there must have been a mistake / I am not who I meant to be / to dos and sticky notes piled by my car keys / I’ve remembered where to go / it seems harder to be happy than it used to be / hands are exclamation points / stretching to a blinding void / pulling taut on tired arms / can you see the sparks / won’t let go / can’t let go for anything / so much harder to be happy than it used to be / on our way to cubicles / to buzz around the honeycomb / to earn the time to lie in sugar beds / there must have been a mistake / I am not who I meant to be / to dos and sticky notes piled by my car keys / I’ve remembered where to go Businessman-- black suit / sharp shoes / you put salt on everything / they ring for you the bells ring / Black noose / pulled loose / certain whispered words at night / do not hold up to the light / you take all of the credit and none of the blame / you take all you want it will never be the same / the blackest numbers / the whitest lies / you walk a crooked timeline / you smell like taxi and sharp cologne / you know where the time goes / you take all the credit / none of the blame /take all you want it will never be the same / you touched my skin / poured poison in my ear / said nothing personal / you take all the credit/none of the blame / take all the pleasure none of the pain / businessman / it’s nothing personal Sweet and Low (by Darlingside)-- nothing tastes like sugar it’s all sweet and low / nothing drinks like lemonade / nothing skips like stone / nothing runs like water when your one true love is gone / every day that comes along has a silver medal on / nothing soars like falcons it’s all paper planes / nothing stings like thistles and nothing floods like rain / nothing roars like fire when you’re standing on your own / no shelter from the coming storm will ever feel like home / nothing’s cut like diamond it’s all shades of coal / nothing breaks like tidal waves nothing mends like bone / nothing tastes like sugar when your love can ne’er return / how to feel with half your heart is the toughest thing to learn